


Lights In The Dark

by sonus



Series: 50 Worlds [1]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, Horror, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Non-Graphic Violence, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:40:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26971531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonus/pseuds/sonus
Summary: The most important lesson in Hyejoo's life is to never trust the lights but she doesn't listen anyway
Relationships: Choi Yerim | Choerry/Son Hyejoo | Olivia Hye
Series: 50 Worlds [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1968280
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Lights In The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to this... Spooky Season something! I didn't exactly plan on writing this but then I got inspired and decided to try haha
> 
> This work is part of a 50 words challenge by my wonderful friend Gy and the first word was 'light'.
> 
> That's all I think, enjoy~

Hyejoo knows that she should be quiet at night.

One of the facts burned at the back of her eyelids like a terrible tattoo that never goes away no matter how many happy memories she tries to overwrite it with is this:

Sound and light are two things that don't belong to the night. Yet they are present anyway.

"If for some reason you find yourself outside after the sun is no longer visible over the horizon don't panic. Just avoid the light."

Heejin sounds so sure of her words despite never being in a similar situation herself. They are just a watered-down version of a tale as old as the world. Or maybe as old as their little town in the middle of the woods. Hyejoo supposes it doesn't really matter because it's the same for her.

Her village is her world and without it, she wouldn't know what to do, lost in the middle of the night in the night sky where they don't belong.

She never planned to test just how true any of the legends about monsters with thousands of teeth and hands ready to tear her apart if she wasn't careful enough were.

Unfortunately for Hyejoo life is unpredictable, hardly ever following a path one chooses themselves. It's the beauty of it, the thing that keeps one going when everything seems too dull or dark or morbid.

Except right now, when the last streaks of pink escape the dark sky and the air that escapes Hyejoo's lungs creates white clouds around her face.

It's like the temperature drops to freezing the moment the night falls all around, trapping her in the middle of the forest.

Hyejoo knows this part of the forest like she knows almost every other one not too far off, not too close to the monster's lair.

If there was even the smallest ray of sunshine chasing the night between the branches she would have no problems navigating back to the safety of her camp.

If there was but there _isn't_ and with each step, Hyejoo's throat closes around cries for help tighter and tighter.

She remembers the stories that had surfaced like a body thrown into a lake last time something like this has happened.

Yuna has been too reckless, they said. She wasn't paying attention and wandered off, never to be seen again.

Hyejoo isn't ready to become yet another story told over dinner yet—

There's a single light in the forest and its soft glow is nothing like in the stories. Can it really belong to a monster if it looks so innocent?

Hyejoo finds herself reaching out, ready to touch and curious to inspect despite better judgment.

The light flickers and goes out leaving everything soaking in black again.

"Shit," comes a hushed voice from the direction of the light and by logic, it should belong to a monster but when Hyejoo comes closer all she sees is a girl around her age with two dark ponytails and a purple hoodie.

The girl doesn't notice her at first, instead glancing at the device in her hand, cursing at it and shaking it as if the light would magically come to life again. Maybe it would, Hyejoo doesn't know.

Then the girl notices her, head snapping up so fast Hyejoo startles and moves back behind a tree.

They should have warned her that monsters were so beautiful. Maybe she finally understood why there were never any bodies to recover after the missing girls.

Maybe her death will be sweet after all.

"Who the hell are you?"

Hyejoo's death smells like cherries and she doesn't mind dying with lights all around her.

xxx

"Hyejoo? Hyejoo!" Yerim's voice slowly cracks the bubble of silence Hyejoo has so carefully built around herself.

First, the younger smells cherries and then sees the familiar mop of dark hair from the corner of her eyes.

"What are you...?" she asks and then has to imminently move over because Yerim decides to sit on the bed close, too close and Hyejoo's heart picks up speed.

"Sorry for scaring you," Yerim points to the night table where a tray with food sits, waiting for Hyejoo to pay attention to it. She swallows, ashamed of how out of it she was to not notice Yerim's kind gesture.

"Thank you," she picks up the pinkish plastic and goes for the dessert first.

Yerim laughs and it's a pleasant sound.

It's been two weeks since Hyejoo has come here, to the city.

The city which is probably what the elders of her village have called a monster.

Maybe they weren't too far off because the city with it's amazing technology Hyejoo has never seen in her life and masses of people, sure has its claws too.

Or maybe they were because since Hyejoo has come here she has learned the truth.

She has learned about bodies left near the forest's entrance. She has learned about the marked trees and red rocks all around the girls she has once called sisters.

She has learned some people called it art and it claws at her heart, tearing pieces of it with its sharp teeth.

Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything new happening there for now.

For how long, it's hard to tell but Hyejoo tries not to think about it.

"Do you think there's any reasoning behind it?" she asks Yerim one time and the older furrows her brows in thought.

"My parents say that this will probably go down as the city's biggest mystery," she starts carefully as if sensing how different Hyejoo's perspective is. For them, people from the city, all the girls are some strange phenomenon. No one is able to identify them nor the many fingerprints of their killers. Yes, they are people, not monsters hunting in the forest, Hyejoo understands that much. "They don't understand how it's possible for no one to know who they are. So young, they must have families, they say. Most people are in agreement though. No one goes into that forest if they know what's good for them. City light can only guide you so far."

Funny how the lights in the dark, the one thing Hyejoo has feared all her life, ended up saving her from the real danger waiting under the masks of her family.

"Why were you there then?" she asks all the obvious questions but she can't help being curious about the girl in purple sitting beside her.

Yerim shrugs.

"I was never one to listen. Not too carefully at least," she gives Hyejoo a wide smile, and the younger tries to match it with a similar one but it's not nearly as bright. "Besides, my parents never believed it's a danger for us. We grew up like this you know? With this tale turned true and no explanations except 'don't go into the forest'. It was frustrating at times and I like it there between the trees."

Hyejoo blinks at Yerim. How can anyone choose the coldness and darkness of the forest above the soft lights of Yerim's room, she can't begin to understand.

"Don't," she whispers and Yerim leans in, the scent of her cherry shampoo so much stronger up close. "Go in there anymore."

Yerim breathes out and giggles. Her eyes are full of stars like the sky seen from Hyejoo's old room's window.

"There are monsters in there and I don't only mean my people," she says, remembering the letters on the trees, impossible to read for others but clean to her. "There's something evil in there that won't leave. It's why—"

"I won't," Yerim promises, voice stern. She reaches out for Hyejoo's hand and the younger lets her take it, linking their fingers together. "I understand what you're talking about. They say the forest is cursed, a literal tale come to life."

Hyejoo wonders if maybe she's cursed too.

xxx

Sometimes Hyejoo misses her village in the woods, no matter how dark it turned out to be.

Sometimes she wished she had stayed in that darkness, unaware of the fact that the monster she should be hiding from was always right in front of her.

Sometimes she thinks it doesn't really matter anyway, it wouldn't have mattered because all she wants is a firm touch of Heejin's arms around her and Jinsoul's sweet words in her ears but then reality catches up to her and Hyejoo realizes this wishful thinking is yet another trap set inside her brain by the elders. In reality, she could have been the next girl set to magically disappear into the forest to never be found again. At least not on the forest side of things.

"Sometimes I think it's impossible to decide who is the monster there," Yerim takes Hyejoo's hands between her warm ones and for a moment the younger girl forgets all about her home. Yerim has this effect on her and with each touch, she craves more and more. "I think both worlds have their own monsters in them."

"The trick is to not get close enough to their teeth to get bitten," Hyejoo whispers and fidgets with Yerim's fingers, untangling them from between hers just to reconnect them a moment later. He can feel the older girl's stare on her but there's not much she can do now. She means what she said. "I think part of what the elders said is true. As long as you stay far enough you should be fine."

Yerim sighs but smiles even if it's strained and tired.

Hyejoo lifts one of her hands carefully and touches the other's cheek, testing the waters. When Yerim doesn't pull away Hyejoo moves even closer, their breaths tangled up right now instead of their fingers.

Yerim smells of cherries and Hyejoo can taste plum at the tip of her tongue.

"There are always some monsters waiting around the corner to trap you," Yerim says, voice serious. "You won't know what's happening until it's too late."

Hyejoo blinks at the girl before her once, twice but it's still the same sweet Yerim with her purple hoodie and pigtails.

"Even here?"

"No," Yerim smiles at her carefully, as if sensing the hesitation in Hyejoo. "Never here. You are safe here."

Hyejoo looks around the room which she has come to realize might one day replace the image tattooed behind her eyelids which she had labeled 'home'. The girl before her might already be settling down in her heart in a space never occupied before.

Maybe, just maybe, this time she can do it for real.

Maybe this time she can stop fearing lights in the dark.

"Safe," she whispers and leans in to learn more about her new home.

It tastes like cherries.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading :3
> 
> kudos and comments always make my day. catch me on twt @ sonuredhair


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